Bottom rail for roller screens



June 20, 1933. s JACOBS ET AL 1,914,431

BOTTOM RAIL FOR ROLLER SCREENS Original Filed April 1, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventors June 20, S B JACQBS E AL BOTTOM RAIL FOR ROLLER SCREENS Original Filed April 1, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 In wentm as.

Patented June 20, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAUL B. JEC'OBS AND MAX SIEGEL, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA BOTTOM BAIL FOR ROLLER SCREENS Original application filed April 1, 1930, Serial No. 440,753. Divided and this application filed May 27,

1982. Serial This invention relates to roller screens of the type employed, for example, in casement windows, and an important object of the invention is the general improvement of roller screens.

An important object is to improve the construction of the bottom rail.

Another important object is to provide for close contact between the bottom rail and the window-sill, when the screen is closed, so as to prevent insects passing between the bottom rail and the sill.

Another object is to provide an efiective construction of spring latch for holding the screen closed.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

This is a division of our application, Serial No. 440,753, filed April 1, 1930.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is an elevation looking at the inner side ofa roller screen constructed in accordance with the'provisions of this invention, portions being shown in section.

Figure 2 is an elevation of Figure 1 from the left thereof.

Figure 3 is an enlarged broken elevation of the lower left corner portion of the roller screen shown in Figure 1, portions of the bottom rail being shown in section.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmental hori-- zontal section on the line indicated by IV-IV, Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmental rear View of the bottom rail and guides.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmental vertical section on the line indicated by VIVI,

' Figure 1. Figure is a perspective view of one end portion of the. bottom rail and wire mesh.

The window casement, to which the roller screen is capable of, being attached, is indicated at A and, of course, constitutes no portion of the invention, it being merely illustrated so that mounting of the roller screen on the casement can the more readily be understood.

There are provided sectional side rails or guides, each of which comprises an upper section 16 anda lower section 17, which sections are in telescoping relation, the upper sections, in this instance, slidably fitting Within the lower sections. Both sections of each guide are provided with keyhole slots 18, the entrance ends of the slots in the sections 16 being turned upward, while the cntrance ends of the slots in the sections 17 are turned downward. Engaging the keyhole slots are fastening members in the form of screws 1!) which are screwed into the casement A. The head ends of the screws 19 are on the inside of the guides and the other ends of the screws are slotted at 191 (see Figure 4) so that the said screws can be turned with a screw driver from the outer side of the win dow casement. (See Figure 6.) The guides may be made of sheet metal, and to hold the sections 16, 17 against relative movement, after they have been adjusted to position, screws 20 are screwed through overlapping portions of the walls of the guide sections.

Each of the guides has a front wall 21, (see Figure 4) a rear wall 22, inner and outer walls 23, 24, and each of the lower sections is provided with a flange 25 that is. approximately parallel to the walls 21, 22 and at right angles to the wall 23. The width of the wall 23 is less than that of the wall 24 so as to space said wall 23 and the flange 25 from the wall 21, thus to produce a guide slot 26 which is adapted to receive one end of a bottom bar 27 to which is secured the lower edge of a wire mesh or screcnancmbcr 28s The bar 27 is of sheet metal which is bent so as to produce four upright walls, a front wall 29, a rear wall 30, and intermediate walls 31, 32. The lower marginal portion of the screen member 28 extends downwardly between the walls 31, and 32, thence upwardly between the walls 29, and 31 so as to be firmly clamped to the bar. Extending approximately horizontally from the upper edges of the walls 29. 31 is a double upper flange 33 which serves as a longitudinal stiffening member. The lower portions of the walls 30, and 32 extend aslant downwardly and forwardly as indicated at 35 and 34, respectively, a re- -silicnt sealing member 36 being clamped between said portions 35 and 34:. The sealing tions servin member 36 normally rojects below the lower end of the wall portion 34 so that when the bottom bar is in position to close the screen, as in Figure 6,-the' sealing member 36 lies be- 5 tween the bottom bar and the window-sill, indicated at B, thus preventing insects from passin between the bottom bar and the winow-si 1. If the window-sill should have an irregular upper face, due to worn spots or 10 imperfections in the making of the sill, the

sealing member 36 will com ensate for such imperfections in the sill. T elower face of the bottom bar is formed by an approximately horizontal lower flange 37 which connects with the lower end of the wall portion 34, said flange 37 being of double thickness and being also connected with the lower end of the front wall 29.

The flange 37 also serves as a longitudinal stiffening member and the walls that constitute the flange 37 are spaced apart to form a latch bar channel 38 in which are slidably mounted latch bars 39, which have their adjacent ends upturned to form handles 40 which project through a slot 41 provided in the upper wall of the flange 37. Lying partly within the slot 41 is a coil spring 42 which has its opposite ends bearing against the latch handles 40 so as to tend to hold the latch bars outwardly. A portion 43 of the upper wall of the flange 37 constitutes a keeper for the spring 42. The outer ends of the latch bars 39, when the s ring 42 is expanded, are adapted to engage eneath shoulders 44 formed by the front walls 21 of the guides, as clearly shown in Figure 3. The shoulders 44 are formed by the lower edges of downwardly and inwardly sloping projections 45 of the walls 21, the slanting edges of said projecto engage and retract the latch bars 39 w en the bottom rail is being lowered.

The walls 30, 31 and 32 of the bottom rail are longer than the wall 29, being of suflicient length to extend into the guide slots 26 so as to guide the bottom rail as said bottom rail is moved up and down. In order to prevent the bottom rail from being detached from the guides, the end portions of the front wall 29 are bent rearwardly at an angle, as clearly shown in Figure 7, to form end flanges 46 which are wider than the slots 26; but in order to prevent the flanges 46 from engaging the joint between the guide sections, when the bottom rail is elevated to the level where it passes over the joints, the rear wall 32 is extended laterally to and, preferably, beyond the flanges 46 as indicated at 47 and the up r corners of the projections 47 are prefera ly rounded as indicated at 48.

The upper en of the wire mesh 28 is suitably secured to a spring retracted roller 49 of the general type ordinarily employed for shades, excepting that it merely has a windin 66 spring and 15 not provided with a pawl an ratchet mechanism as in the ordinary shade roller.

The foregoing will make clear the construction and operation of the invention and, briefly stated, the operation is as follows: Assuming that the screen is closed,-as shown in Figures 1 and 3, to open the screen, the operator, with thumb and forefinger, will press together the handles 40 of the latch, thereby retracting the latch bars 39 from engagement with the shoulders 44, and he will then permit the spring roller 49 to roll up the wire mesh, the bottom rail sliding upwardly in the guides as the wire mesh winds upon the roller. To close the screen, the operator will press down on either the flange 33 or the flange 37, until the ends of the latch bars ride over the projections 45, whereupon the spring 42 will force the latch bars outwardly into latching engagement with the shoulders 44.

We claim:

1. A bottom rail for a roller screen comprising a sheet metal element bent to form upright inner, outer and intermediate walls, wire mesh extending down between the intermediate walls and thence upwardly between one of the intermediate walls and one of the other mentioned walls, and a double flange extending inwardly from the upper end of the inner wall and the innermost intermediate wall.

2. A bottom rail for a roller screen comprising a sheet metal element bent to form upright inner, outer and intermediate walls, the wire mesh of said screen extending down between the intermediate walls and thence upwardly between one of the intermediate walls and one of the other mentioned walls, and a double flange extending inwardly from the lower ends of the inner wall and the outermost intermediate wall.

3. bottom rail for a roller screen comprising a resilient sealing strip and means on the rail for holding the sealing strip with its lower portion pro ecting aslant downwardly and inwardly when said strip is not deflected by engagement with the window sill.

4. A bottom rail for a roller screen comprising a metal element having a downwardly and inwardly slanting wall portion, and a resilient sealing member secured to the rail and extending along and projecting below said slanting wall portion. 7

5. A bottom rail for a roller screen comprising a metal'element secured to the wire mesh of the screen and provided with two sheet-metal walls extending aslant down-4 wardly and inwardly and a resilient sealing member clamped between said walls and projecting below the lowermost part of said rail.

6. In a roller screen, a bottom rail for said screen, ada ted to be guided at its ends by slotted gui es, comprising a member having a plurality of walls, the opposite ends of one wall having rearwardly bent flanges of greater width than the slots in the gui es therefor,

the end edges of another of said walls projecting laterally as far as the outer faces of said flanges and the upper corners of the projections being rounded.

7. In a roller screen, a bottom rail for said screen, adapted to be guided at its ends by slotted guides, said rail being comprised of sheet metal folded to form a member of channel section, the base of the channel lying in the plane of the screen and being secured thereto, the flanges of the channel extending inwardly from the top and bottom of the base, the base portion extending longitudinally beyond the flanges, whereby it is adapted to fit in the slots of screen guides.

8. A bottom rail for a roller screen comrised of sheet metal folded to form a memr of channel section in which one of the flanges of said channel section.comprises a pair of spaced apart walls forming a guiding recess adapted to retain latch elements, a pair of latch elements slidable within said recess,

2 and means for resiliently forcing said latch elements outwardly whereby their outer ends project beyond the ends of said flange for engagement with a shoulder on a screen guide.- I

9. A bottom rail for a roller screen comprised of sheet metal folded to form a member apart horizontal walls forming a guiding recess adapted to retain latch elements, a pair of latch elements comprising flat metal strips slidable within said recess,'the outer ends of said strips being projectable beyond said flange for enga ement with a shoulder on a screen guide, t e inner ends of said strips being bent perpendicularly to constitute finger grips'for actuatingesaid latch elements, a spring positioned tween and against the upturned inner ends of said latch members to urge them outwardly, the upper wall of said flange being cut away to make room for said upwardly bent ends of said latch strips, and means forming an integral part of said rail for retaining said spring.

Signed atLos Angeles, California this 19th day of May, 1932.

SAUL B..JACOBS.

u MAX SIEGEL. 

